"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." -II Corinthians 13:14 [KJV] Here, my soul, set up thy pillar. Baptised as thou hast been into the joint name, love, praise, and adoration, of the Holy Three in One; and blessed as thou hast been, and art, in their joint mercies, grace, and favour; here every day, and all the day, seek thy portion and blessing, as the united source of all thy salvation.  End the year, and begin the year, under those precious tokens of God in Christ; and daily keep up a lively communion and friendship with each, as the blessed cause of all thine happiness. Jehovah, in His threefold character of Person, is engaged to perfect what He hath begun: and it is, and should be thy happiness to be for ever viewing the testimonies of it, in the holy scriptures of truth.  God thy Father hath so loved the church in Jesus, as to give Him to the church, and the church to Him; and God the So...

"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."   -I Peter 1:24, 25 [KJV] All flesh, and everything that springs from the flesh, and is connected with the flesh, is as grass, which, for a time, looks green and flourishing, but touched with the mower's scythe, or scorched by the midday sun, soon withers and fades away. Such is all flesh, without exception, from the highest to the lowest. As in nature, some grass grows thicker and longer than other, and makes, for a while, a brighter show, yet the scythe makes no distinction between the light crop and the heavy, so the scythe of death mows down with equal sweep the rich and the poor, and lays in one common grave all the children of men.  You have seen sometimes in the early spring the grass in flower, and you have noticed those little ...

" A building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ." -II Corinthians 5:1 [KJV] My soul, after thy last evening's meditation on the shortness and unsatisfying nature of life, let thy present thoughts be occupied in beholding, with steady faith, the great contrast to it: and see whether thy confidence be as strong, and well founded, as the apostle's. His was not a mere hope only, but an assurance in Jesus. "We know, (saith he) that if this tabernacle (our body) were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Dost thou know this?  Is Jesus thy foundation? Hath God thy Father built for thee? And doth the Holy Ghost set His almighty hand to the work, in sweetly witnessing to the writings, and sealing the deed, that it is thine? Oh! the blessedness to know this, to live already in the enjoyment of it; and while the pins of thy earthly tabernacle are daily loosening, and taking out, to be...

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof."   - Ecclesiastes 7:8 [KJV] Thus saith the wise man, and it is often true in natural things, but invariably so in divine. Rarely at first can we foresee what will be the issue of any matter which we take in hand. We may begin it with much hope, and find in the end those hopes sadly disappointed. We may begin it with much fear, and find from the event those fears utterly groundless. Whatever we take in hand it is very rare that our expectations are fully carried out, for we have again and again to learn that "man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps," and that there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that and that only, shall stand.   But so far as we are amongst the family of God, and as such are under especial guidance and divine teaching and leading, whether our first expectations are accomplished or not, the end stamps wisdom and goodness...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (30DEC22 - 01JAN23 A.D.) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in SO GREAT SALVATION by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - Almighty God's unmerited favor - from our sins and from Hell: “ Salvation is of the LORD.” -Jonah 2:9c [KJV] “ God prepared a salvation for His elect, chosen by Him not because of any goodness in them, but because He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. Is this not a salvation that will suit thee, O poor sinner?   If God had chosen them out of any merit, or if that choice depended on anything which men did or could do, thou wert a damned soul, for thou hast no goodness, and thou canst do nothing. If God’s election comes to those who are without merit, without hope, without strength, there is hope for thee.” -copied "Storm Warning: Prove ...

"Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." -Genesis 47:9 [KJV] My soul, in looking back upon thy life, mayest thou not well take up the same language as the patriarch, and confess that "few and evil have thy days been?" Surely the review appears like the heath of a desert, "that knoweth not when good cometh!" Out of Jesus, and considered without an eye to Him, there is not a single circumstance of real merit, or of real happiness to be seen. The whole of life, from the days of childhood, through all its intermediate stages, presents but one view "of vanity and vexation of spirit?   Precious Jesus! what would the arithmetic of life have been in the now departing year, or in the departure of myself from the world, but for thee? Hadst Thou not graciously sought me, when I sought not Thee: hadst Thou not opened to me "the good old way," trodden by the patriarchs, and guided and held up my feet in following them; had not Jesus ...

"I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing." - John 15:5 [KJV] The great secret in religion—that secret which is only with those who fear the Lord and to Whom He shews His covenant—is first to get sensible union with the Lord, and then to maintain it. But this union cannot be got except by some manifestation of His Person and work to our heart, joining us to Him as by one Spirit. This is the espousal of the soul, whereby it is espoused to one husband as a chaste virgin to Christ. From this espousal comes fellowship, or communion with Christ; and from this communion flows all fruitfulness, for it is not a barren marriage.   But this union and communion cannot be maintained except by abiding in Christ; and this can only be by His abiding in us. "Abide in Me, and I in you." But how do we abide in Him? Mainly by faith, hope, and love, for these are the three chief grace...

"The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."   -I Peter 4:7 [KJV] My soul, how hath the year been hastening from thee, and thou hastening in it from the world! Where are the days fled? They are gone to be numbered with the years beyond the flood; and thou art now standing as on the isthmus of time. "The end of all things is at hand." Friends are dying around thee, thou art dying thyself; yea, the world is dying: and the end of all things is at hand. In this state, my Lord, well may I look up to Thee!  Circumstances so very solemn may well induce soberness, and watchfulness unto prayer. Yes! blessed Jesus! I would pray Thee to induce in me every suited state, that every faculty may be on the watch tower, waiting my Lord's coming. Thou hast said: "Yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry."   Oh! then for grace to live by faith on Thee; and so to live, that when I change worlds, I may ...

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." - Philippians 1:29 [KJV] After the Lord, by His special work on the conscience, has called us to repentance and confession of sin, as well as to faith in Jesus; after He has called us to godly sorrow; to live according to the precepts of the gospel; and to walk in the ordinances of His Church; He then calls us to suffer for and with Christ. But we cannot "suffer according to the will of God," that is, in a gospel sense and from gospel motives, till the Lord enables us in some measure to look to Him. The same Spirit, Who calls the believer to walk in a path of suffering, strengthens and enables him to do so.  To suffer aright, we must walk in the steps of the great Captain of our salvation, Who "though a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered." The Father in this sense spared not His only-begotten Son, but led Him into the ...

  ONCE! D.G. Miles McKee   The book of Hebrews demonstrates the superiority of the Lord Jesus over the Old Covenant.  In fact, Hebrews makes it very clear that the Old Covenant has been done away. Because of the sufficiency and finality of Christ’s sacrifice, the Old Testament priesthood has been abolished.  When we comprehend the teachings of Hebrews, we realize, among other things, that there can be no priesthood in existence today which is qualified to make sacrifices for sin.  Why not?  Simply because there is no need for one.  Those, such as the Roman Communion, who claim to be able to offer sin-forgiving sacrifices declare themselves and their followers separate from the New Covenant.  Why? Because in the New Covenant there is but  one  priest who has offered Himself  once  for sin.  Christ Jesus is that priest and His work of dealing with our sins is finished.   Let’s look at this more closely and consider 4 in...

"For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His." -Hebrews 4:10 [KJV] My soul, see to it, that among other blessed evidences of thine union and rest in Christ, thou hast this also "We which have believed," the apostle saith, "do enter into rest." Our dependence on, and knowledge of Jesus, are such, that we really and truly enjoy the blessings of redemption. And as God the Father, when He had finished creation, rested from all His works which He had made; and as Jesus, when He had finished redemption, entered into His glory; so true believers, when they have once found Christ, and redemption in His blood, no longer weary themselves in the works of sin, or the works of self-righteousness, by way of justification before God; but cease from every thing in self, and rest with complacency and delight in the rich, free, and full salvation that is by Christ.   My soul, what sayest thou to this blessed testimony...

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."   -II Corinthians 5:7 [KJV] The nature of faith is to trust in the dark, when all appearances are against it; to trust that a calm will come, though the storm be overhead; to trust that God will appear, though nothing but evil be felt. It is tender, child-like, and therefore is an implicit confidence, a yielding submission, a looking unto the Lord. There is something filial in this; something heavenly and spiritual; not the bold presumption of the daring, nor the despairing fears of the desponding; but something beyond both the one and the other—equally remote from the rashness of presumption, and from the horror of despair. There is a mingling of holy affection connected with this trust, springing out of a reception of past favours, insuring favours to come; and all linked with a simple hanging and depending of the soul upon the Lord, because He is what He is.   There is a looking to, and relying upon the Lord, because we have felt Him t...

"A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence." -I Peter 2:8 [KJV] O my Lord! how wonderful is it, that Thy coming should have given such offence to Thy people? The prophet, indeed, said it should be so, and thereby gave one among the many testimonies to Thy character. "He," saith the prophet in Isaiah 8:14,  "that shall be for a sanctuary, shall be but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel." But what was there, my Lord, in Thee, and the gracious purpose for which Thou came, that could have furnished occasion for stumbling? Thy birth, indeed, was humble, Thy life marked with sorrow, Thy death ignominious, and every thing about Thee debased. But under all these things, did not the Godhead burst forth in acts which none but God could perform?  And is the offence of the cross ceased in the present hour? Alas! what multitudes of sinners now, as much as then, still live to despise salvation by Thy blood and righteousn...

"The L ORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." - Zephaniah 3:17 [KJV] What a mighty God we have to deal with! And what would suit our case but a mighty God? Have we not mighty sins? Have we not mighty trials? Have we not mighty temptations? Have we not mighty foes and mighty fears? And who is to deliver us from all this mighty host except the mighty God? It is not a little God (if I may use the expression) that will do for God's people. They need a mighty God because they are in circumstances where none but a mighty God can interfere in their behalf.   Why, if you did not know feelingly and experimentally your mighty sins, your mighty trials, your mighty temptations, and your mighty fears, you would not want a mighty God. This sense of our weakness and His power, of our misery and His mercy, of our ruin and His recovery, of the aboundings of our sin and the superaboundings of His grace—a feeling sense, I say, of these opposite yet harmonious things brings us to hav...

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes." - Psalm 119:71 [KJV] We may have everything naturally that the carnal heart desires, and only be hardened thereby into worldliness and ungodliness. But to be brought down in body and soul, to be weaned and separated from an ungodly world by affliction sanctified and made spiritually profitable, to be brought to feel our need of Christ, and that without an interest in His precious blood our soul must be for ever lost—how much better it is really and truly, to be laid on a bed of affliction, with a hope in God's mercy, than to be left to our own carnality and thoughtlessness.   Affliction of any kind is very hard to bear, and especially so when we begin to murmur and fret under the weight of the cross; but when the Lord afflicts it is in good earnest; He means to make us feel. Strong measures are required to bring us down; and affliction would not be affliction, unless it were full of grief an...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (23-25DEC22 A.D.) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in SO GREAT SALVATION by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - Almighty God's unmerited favor - from our sins and from Hell: “ Soon we will bid farewell to 2022. Let each of us reflect upon this past year and as we do, I know we will agree with the words of Joshua, "Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof” (Joshua 23:14).  What promise of God, made to you in Christ, has your heavenly Father not kept? Can you name one? Of course, you cannot for the Lord is faithful to do as He has promised. “ If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).   Can you po...